Guide rail assembly for sliding doors



June 19, 1956 H STARK GUIDE RAIL- ASSEMBLY FOR SLIDING DOORS Filed Sept.8, 1955 a wa e IN V EN TOR. Hfl/FOLD STA/7K wgwwo ATTORNEY United StatesPatent M GUIDE RAIL ASSEMBLY FOR SLIDING DOORS Harold Stark, FarRockaway, N. Y.

Application September 8, 1953, Serial No. 378,780

3 Claims. (Cl. 16-90) The present application relates to a guide railassembly structure for sliding doors and the like.

It is proposed to provide a novel guide rail structure for one or moresliding doors. The structure is arranged with a plurality ofinter-fitting parts which may be spaced a predetermined distance apartso that the said sliding doors move in pre-set channels.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a structure forguiding doors having inter-fitted parts of simplified form.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structure for guidingdoors which is moldable from tough, plastic material or the like, isrelatively inexpensive to fabricate, is easy to install, and islong-wearing in use.

A further object is to provide a guide rail assembly for sliding doorswhich enables the doors to be spaced apart parallel to each other anydesired distance.

Another object is to provide a guide rail structure which may beassembled from a plurality of identical shaped parts.

Other and further objects of the invention will become readily apparentfrom the following description taken together with the drawing wherein:

Fig. l is a cross sectional view of one embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of a modification of the invention.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on lines 55 of Fig. 3.

In Fig. l, the guide rail assembly structure shown in cross section hasa straight flat base portion 1 on which slides the door 2. The door 2 isnot a part of the invention and is shown as an aid to visualizing theinvention. pair of upstanding walls 4, 5 to define a channel ofpredetermined width serving to guide the door 2 in its travel. A flatstrip 6 extends outwardly from wall 5. The thickness of strip 6 is madesubstantially less than a base portion 7 in a mating guide rail member.7 is undercut to define a groove or channel of less width than thetransverse width of base portion 7.

Channel 15 is located on the under side base portion 7 to receive strip6 which is dimensioned to fit snugly in the channel. Base portion 7 isprovided with upstanding walls 8, 9 corresponding to walls 4, 5respectively. These members thus define a channel of predetermined Widthfor a guiding door to be moved therethrough, over the base portion 7.The lower outer portions of walls 4 and 8 are widened to defineintegrally formed bracket portions 10, 11. The upper sides of thesebracket portions are inclined with respect to walls 4 and 8 so thatholding screws may be inserted in the obliquely directed screw holes 12,13 adapted for retention of flat head screws. A screw hole 14 isprovided in strip 6 and is adapted for retention of a fiat head screw orthe like. The width of strip 6 is less than that The base portion 1 isintegrally formed with a 1 Base portion 2,750,622 Patented June 19, 1956of the base portion 7 and the corresponding linear extent of wall 9 asshown in Fig. 2. Wall 9 has a channel cut in its underside coextensivewith channel 15 to receive the strip 6. By the arrangement shown theseveral guide rail portions may be spaced a suitable predetermineddistance apart with strip 6 interfitted in channel 15. The spacing ofthe guide rail portions will be limited only by the length of strip 6.The guide rails Will normally be mounted over a wooden base such as awood floor or the like so that flat head screws can be inserted throughthe respective screw holes 12, 13 and 14.

In Fig. 3 is shown a modification of the invention wherein two guiderail portions 16, 16' of identical shape are disposed in alignment witheach other. Each rail portion has a heavier outer Wall 4' correspondingto Wall 4 of Fig. l in size and shape. The base portion 1' on whichslides a door to be mounted thereover has a channel 17 with outwardlyand upwardly flaring side walls shown clearly in Fig. 5. Wall 5'corresponding to wall 5 in Fig. 1 has a channel portion 18 in the bottomthere of which is continuous with the channel 17 in the base portion.The walls of channel 17 may continue upward if desired to the top ofbase portion 1' to form the framed cavity shown in Fig. 4. However it isnot necessary to extend the channel 17 up through the top of the baseportion if it is desired that a door slide over an unbroken uppersurface of base portion 1'. A rigid center strip 19 formed of metal orother stiff material into channelshaped member is provided to fit snuglyinto the channel 17-18. This strip serves to join the two guide railportions or members 16, 16' in alignment with each other. A screw hole20 is provided in strip 19 for fastening the strip to a suitable base.

It will be noted that guide rail members 16, 16' are identical in shapeand used in aligned reversed positions in cooperation with each otherfor guiding a pair of sliding doors between the walls 4, 5 of eachmember. The several guide members may be spaced apart any desireddistance depending on the length of the strip 19 with opposite ends ofthe strip fitted into channels 17. Suitable screws are required to beinserted through the screw holes 12 and 20 to hold the guide railmembers in fixed position with respect to each other.

In both embodiments of Figs. 1 and 4 the center strips 6 and 19 servethe important functions of aligning and spacing the two channel-shapedguide rail portions or members. The center strips are further essentialto the invention since the guide rail members are held in place only bythe screws to be inserted in the screw holes 12 and 13 located in theouter brackets 10, 11. The screws in the outer brackets would obviouslynot be sufficient alone to hold the two guide members in alignment. Thusthe center strips with the screws to be inserted through screw holes 14and 20 therein are necessary to keep the guide members rigidly in place,aligned and spaced as desired.

Walls 4, 5 and 4, 5' of the several embodiments of the invention aresmoothly shaped and their inner walls flare outwardly slightly. Thisshaping adapts the assembly to perform its basic function to guide thedoors to be mounted therein, but also importantly this shaping adaptsthe structures to manufacture by mass production, economical, althoughconventional, fabrication processes. The shape of the guide railstructure is such that all members may readily be formed by knownmolding processes, for example, but it is to be understood that theinvention is not considered as limited to fabrication by any particularprocess.

A preferred type of material usable for fabricating the several guideportions or members is nylon. This substance has characteristics ofsmoothness, toughness, and dimensional stability which adapt itremarkably well to Cs use in fabricating the present invention. Ofcourse other non-metallic materials can be used as well as metals suchas brass, bronze and the like.

Although a limited number of embodiments of the invention have beendisclosed and illustrated it would be understood that the invention isnot intended to be restricted thereto and is considered co-extensivewith the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A guide rail assembly for sliding doors comprising a pair of guiderail members, each of said members having a fiat base portion andupstanding integrally formed side walls to define a channel for guidingsaid doors, an integral flat strip extending from a wall of one of saidmembers and inter-fitted in a groove in the other of said members,whereby the members are disposable with the said channels parallel toeach other and spaced apart a distance less than the length of saidstrip.

2. A guide rail member for sliding doors and the like comprising asubstantially flat base portion, a pair of upstanding walls integrallyformed with the base portion to define a channel for guiding a slidingdoor, one of said walls and said base portion being grooved to receivean aligning strip, and a bracket portion integral with the other of saidwalls and adapted to receive a retaining screw.

3. A guide rail assembly for sliding doors comprising a pair of guidemembers, each of said guide members including a flat base portion and apair of upstanding walls integrally formed with the base portion todefine a channel for guiding a sliding door therein, one of said 5 wallsand said base portion having a continuous groove therein, and a bracketportion integral with the other of said walls and adapted to receive aretaining screw; and a substantially straight rigid strip joining saidpair of guide members in alignment with each other a distance apart lessthan the length of said strip with the strip snugly inter-fitted in atleast one of said grooves, said strip being adapted to receive aretaining screw.

References Cited in the file of this patent OTHER REFERENCES GuideYW2551 on page 253 of the Catalog 61 of the Stanley Works, New Britain,Conn. (Copy in Div. 20.)

Page 192 of Plastics Bulletin, vol. 12, 1950, published by E. I. du Pontde Nemours & Co., Polychemicals Department, Wilmington, Del. (Copy inDiv. 20.)

